Believe it or not, Janis Joplin did not drive a Mercedes Benz. When she made the big time in 1968, she bought a a 1965 Porsche 356C 1600 Cabriolet. To be fair, she didn’t write the song "Mercedes Benz" until 1970, and the lyric did mention Porsches. The car she drove was customized with a psychedelic paint job that became instantly recognizable wherever she drove.

In many serious car-collecting circles, a custom paint job on such a vehicle would be considered sacrilege. But then, this was Janis Joplin’s car. She engaged her friend and Big Brother and the Holding Company roadie Dave Richards to customise it with a kaleidoscopic mural. Richards described the paint job as representing the history of the universe. And Joplin was regularly seen cruising the streets of San Francisco behind the wheel.